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Punch Mania: Hokuto no Ken
, released in the overseas market as 'Fighting Mania: Fist of the North Star, was a coin-operated video game produced by Konami released on March 2000. It is a first-person boxing game that were released on a unique game cabinet where the player must strike their opponents using specialized punching pads. A sequel was released exclusively in Japan titled on December 2000, which was released on a 2-player cabinet. ''Hokuto no Ken Cabinet The arcade cabinet stands about 6'2" tall, 34" wide (when facing the machine), and about 4' deep. The monitor is recessed into the cabinet a fair distance, and in the front of the cabinet are six orange, sturdy punching pads with red LED lights embedded near their hinges. The pads are at rest along the inside walls of the recession of the cabinet, lining the monitor. There are also two black plastic "special gloves" that rest in pockets on the front of the machine, which are normally tied with rope or chain to the arcade cabinet to prevent theft. The player is to wear these gloves while playing. Gameplay When an on-screen enemy makes an attack on the player, a punch pad will swing out on its hinge at a smooth pace, and upon reaching full extension at 90 degrees, the LEDs light up red. The pad stays lit for a short time, and then the pad returns inside the cabinet to rest. The player must punch this pad while the LEDs are lit. The strength of the player's punch is irrelevant to the game, and the game warns the player not to punch hard, to prevent the risk of breaking the machine. Only the timing of the punch is important, punches should be delivered at half strength, with exact timing. Punching a pad when it is fully extended and the LEDs lit results in the attack being blocked, and the opponent receiving damage in the form of a counter-attack. Punching too early or too late results in either blocking the move with no counter-attack, or receiving lessened damage from the attack, also with no counter-attack damage to the opponent. Missing a pad completely (the pad retracting without ever being hit) results in full damage taken by the player. As opponents get more difficult - and particularly when they use their special moves - punches will be thrown and pads will pop out in faster succession and in more chaotic patterns, or special precautions may need to be taken, such as only striking one pad that is lit while other dummy pads pop up, or striking pads in the exact order they deploy. Like conventional fighting games, the player has a life gauge at the top, and the enemy has a life gauge that must be brought to zero as well. Also both characters have a tech meter. As attacks are landed or damage is taken, the stars light up along the super gauge and when full, the game will automatically execute the special move for the player. The game will also instruct the player how to use the particular special move it chose, based on the enemy the player is fighting. The game follows the Fist of the North Star series, as each enemy is not only a character from the series, but the finishing moves the player must use to defeat them are taken from the series as well. The game grades the player's performance based on their remaining life, agility, wisdom (wiz), skills and the use of finishing moves (arts). At the start of the game, the player must choose their course. Each course consist of a set of opponents within a certain story arc. This serves as a difficulty setting. The first course is a tutorial where Kenshiro's master, Ryuken, will teach the player how to play the game and explain the finer points of timing punches. The subsequent courses involve progressively harder opponents moving toward the right, and are based on specific story arcs in the manga. Courses and characters Player: Kenshiro (va Akira Kamiya) Difficulty: Practice *Ryuken (va Masashi Kimura) :Art: *Zeed (va Katashi Ishizuka) :Player's art: Player: Kenshiro Difficulty: Easy *Zeed :Player's art: *Mr. Heart (va Seiji Sasaki) :Player's art: *Shin (va Toshio Furukawa) :Art: :Player's Art: Player: Kenshiro Difficulty: Medium *King of Kiba (va Haruo Sato) :Arts: , *Player's art: *Rei (va Kaneto Shiozawa) :Arts: , :Player's arts: *Shuh (va Katashi Ishizuka) :Art: :Player's art: *Souther (va Haruo Sato) :Arts: , :Player's art: Player: Kenshiro Difficulty: Medium * Colonel (va Hitoshi Bifu) :Art: :Player's art: * Devil (va Masashi Kimura) :Art: :Player's art: * Uighur (va Masashi Kimura) :Art: , :Player's art: * Ken-oh (va Kenji Utsumi) :Art: :Player's art: Player: Rei (va Kaneto Shiozawa) Difficulty: Medium (no life recovery between stages) * Ken-oh :Art: :Player's art: *King of Kiba :Arts: , :Player's art: , *Amiba (va Seiji Sasaki) :Art: :Player's art: N/A *Yuda (va Seiji Sasaki) :Art: :Player's art: Player: Kenshiro Difficulty: Hard *Jagi (va Haruo Sato) :Art: :Player's art: N/A *Amiba :Art: :Player's art: *Toki (va Masashi Kimura) :Art: :Player's art: *Ryuga (va Hiroki Takahashi) :Art: :Player's art: *Raoh (va Kenji Utsumi) :Art: :Player's art: Player: Raoh (va Kenji Utsumi) Difficulty: Maniac *Toki :Art: :Player's art: *Jyuza (va Katashi Ishizuka) :Art: :Player's art: *Fudoh (va Seiji Sasaki) :Art: N/A :Player's art: *Kenshiro :Art: , :Player's art: ''Hokuto no Ken 2'' The sequel was released as a deluxe twin cabinet, allowing two players to play the game independently from each other, as well as cooperatively or competitively. All seven single-player courses from the original Punch Mania are included along with five new single-player courses unique to the sequel that are based on the later storyline of the original manga. Other new game modes includes a single-player Survival mode, a 2-player tag team and a versus mode. New courses and characters Player: Kenshiro (va Akira Kamiya) Difficulty: Easy *Balona and Bask :Art: *Geila :Art: :Player's art: *Ein (va Ken Yamaguchi) Player: Ein (va Ken Yamaguchi) Difficulty: Easy *Buzori *Bat (va Katashi Ishizuka) :Art: Knife throw *Jakoh (va Shigeru Chiba) :Art: Armored Calvary Assault Player: Kenshiro Difficulty: Normal *Solia :Art: *Harn Bros. (Buzz and Gill) :Art: :Player's art: *Jakoh :Art: Spear launcher *Falco (va Hideyuki Tanaka) :Art: Player: Kenshiro Difficulty: Normal *Aka-shachi (va Haruo Sato) *Shura (va Katashi Ishizuka) :Art: *Alf (va Masashi Kimura) :Art: *Han (va Haruo Sato) :Art: Player: Kenshiro Difficulty: Hard *Shie :Art: *Shachi :Art: *Hyoh (va Hiroki Takahashi) :Art: *Kaioh (va Kenji Utsumi) *Art: Survival mode is a single-player survival mode where the player can choose to play four of the 24 battles from the original Punch Mania in any order. Like Rei's course in the first game, the player must complete all these battle with only partial energy recovery between fights. Cooperative mode The cooperative mode allows two players to help each other fight against the computer in a series of exclusive stages. There are three courses to choose from, each consisting of a different pair of player characters and three stages. Difficulty: Easy Player 1: Kenshiro Player 2: Rei * Stage 1: Madara and Kiba Daiō. * Stage 2: Raiga and Fūga, Uighur and Ken-oh's Royal Guards * Stage 3: Seeker and Ken-oh Difficulty: Medium Player 1: Bat Player 2: Ein * Stage 1: Buzori * Stage 2: Geila * Stage 3: Jakoh Difficulty: Hard Player 1: Kenshiro Player 2: Raoh * Stage 1: Falco and Solia * Stage 2: Han and Kaiser * Stage 3: Hyoh and Kaioh Versus mode Two players compete against each other as one of eight selectable characters: Kenshiro, Raoh, Rei, Ein, Heart, Jagi, Falco or Kaioh. External links * Official Japanese site * GameFAQs * Fighting Mania - KLOV entry ja:パンチマニア 北斗の拳 Category:Video games